Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Harper continues to be unconstitutional

University of Ottawa law professor Errol Mendes told opposition MPs the Tories' refusal to hand over documents on Afghan prisoners makes a “mockery” of Parliament and is unconstitutional.
Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers If you liked this post, please vote for my blog at Canadian Blogosphere Canadian Blogosphere

6 comments:

  1. Do you know what the law is under a UN lead war?
    the problem as I see it is the Canadian Forces have moved from a peace keeping area of Afghanistan to a more active war Zone
    Are there specific laws that apply in the war Zone that perhaps did not apply in the peace keeping Zone
    It appears that there is some legal problems with releasing of documents
    I would appreciate your views

    fh

    ReplyDelete
  2. There are no legal problems with releasing the documents. What problems there are are linked to expressed security concerns. On this count, if one were to choose to be cynical, one could maintain that the Conservatives are invoking security concerns real and imagined to obscure as much information as to their alleged wrongdoing in the detainee transfers as possible.

    To deal with these security problems, one can simply show the documents to MPs, as they have the right to request them, uncensored. What would then be done is to release them only to MPs and not to the public.

    If Harper fails to do so, he may be found in contempt of Parliament. That would be very serious.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for your opinion do you have a legal authority to back this up?
    the charge against our military is a very serious one.
    I hope this committee can come to a satisfactory conclusion. The military have a tough enough job without being accused of allegedly committing war crimes.

    fh

    ReplyDelete
  4. The way I see it in order for the Canadian Government to be found guilty of covering up a war crime the military would have to be found guilty of covering up a war crime.
    maybe my thinking is wrong?

    fh

    ReplyDelete
  5. " 美麗的事物是永恆的快樂,它的可愛日有增加,不會消逝而去 "

    I sent the above throgh a language translator program, this is what the result was:

    "The beautiful things is eternal happiness, it's cute, runs out and will not be"

    Just for your information.

    ReplyDelete
  6. If there is any justice in this world, a member of the opposition will rise in the House of Commons (if they haven't already done so by the time I push the Post Comment button) and asked to be heard on a point of privilege. Points of privilege take precedence over all other Commons business. The point of privilege should introduce a contempt of Parliament charge for refusing to turn over the documents that our elected Members of Parliament ordered the Harper Government to turn over.

    The penalty for being found to be in contempt of Parliament can be as severe as incarceration, which can last up to the end of the session of Parliament, although that penalty hasn't been used since 1913.

    ReplyDelete

Progressive bloggers